


Endless Impossibilities

by leighthepeach



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Romance, Royalty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-05-18 01:50:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14843306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leighthepeach/pseuds/leighthepeach
Summary: A collection of moments between Sarah and Jareth. Each chapter is its own stand alone scene. Any interactions wherein Jareth and Sarah share any romantic relations, Sarah is 18 years or older.Most stories end with the princess being saved by a dashing man. They ride off into some gorgeous scenery and live happily ever after. The story of Sarah and Jareth is far more messy than that. The princess is no royalty at all, and she saves herself. The dashing man in her story seems more villain than hero, though the closer she looks the harder it is to decide. And their story has no clear end, nor beginning. But has spun itself a thousand times, a thousand different ways.





	1. Artful Arrangement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah prepares to face the faerie court.

She sits at the mirror, staring into the glass as if to make sense of the image there. Eyes narrowed and calculating, the bright green sparking with the defiance that rises at even the slightest challenge.

Jareth’s tread is nonexistent, heels well above an inch betraying not even the smallest click upon the stone floor. When his face appears there, just above hers, she does not start nor even gasp in surprise. No, such girlish displays of fear have fallen away with the passage of time. And long ago, so long ago, she learned that he had no power that she did not give him.

Instead those mesmerizing eyes flick up, almost annoyed. A mask to hide behind. For while she does not fear Jareth, there is still apprehension at the unknown.

“They’ll know.”

“Yes, I daresay they will. But why should you care?”

Sarah’s mouth twists. “Why should I care? They’re magic. You’re magic. Every damn thing in this upside down world is magic. But me.”

“Which makes you all the more formidable.” The words are sharp, inarguable. Yet she raises a fine, dark brow all the same.

Jareth sighs. Gloved fingers lift and ghost over her hair, dark and heavy and arranged in a loose braid that sweeps around and over her left shoulder. Elegant, yet simple enough to say she doesn’t need intricacies to be beautiful.

“Think of it, my dear.” Deftly, his fingers pluck at the air, a golden flower materializing between thumb and forefinger. “Here is a mortal girl. No magic, no sorcery to her name.” The flower slides against her locks, then rests among the dark tresses. “She enters the world of monsters and mayhem, where some can bend reality itself and even the earth beneath her feet cannot be trusted.” Another flower, and another, each placed just so. She shivers as one is carefully arranged at her nape, the pads of his fingers sliding briefly against the skin of her neck.

“You, Sarah. They will see a girl who defied time even as it reordered. A girl who solved a labyrinth centuries in the making, whose depths many enter yet none escape. They will see a girl who knows her own dreams and breaks them if need be. A girl who faced the King of Goblins.”

He pauses here, a wry smile curving his lips. “Who, I might point out, has no small power himself.” The hands at her hair cease, and instead lower to her shoulders. They slide ever so slowly upward, and she can feel the warmth of his palms through the thin leather.

“All this you’ve done. Without their magic, their tricks, their deceit and lies. Don’t you see, Sarah?” Her head tilts back as his fingers trace up the sides of her throat. “You’ve bested them all. And how terrified they shall feel, how insignificant, and weak. To know that you have more sway, more force, more power than any of them shall ever dream.”

Sarah’s gaze is intense. He can see it growing in her. So close.

“They will know your place, Sarah. As should you. And it is far above theirs.” She reaches back, grabbing his blond hair, pulling him down in silent command. He smiles wickedly, lips eagerly closing over hers in a ravenous kiss.

She is still learning, still discovering herself. But soon Sarah Williams shall find what he has known from the first.

Far beyond one King. There is no one with power over her.

 


	2. Remembrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah returns to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. And she remembers. She remembers everything.

Want to suggest a prompt for Jareth x Sarah or peruse my other works? Click here: [X  
](https://leighthepeach.tumblr.com/)Kudos and comments are very appreciated!

* * *

 

“I wish to go –to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City.” Her voice was shaky and weak, her heavy, labored breaths muting her once vibrant tone. But though her words were brittle, her will was not. And so, with the last embers of power remaining to her (and to him), she took herself away to the land that had always been her home, laid dormant as an escape in her dreams.

But it’s been there, waiting for her, wishing for her to remember.  
_Oh Sarah, if only you’d remember_.

She appeared in the garden, her wish having taken her precisely where she needed to be, precisely where he was.

Falling,  
          falling,  
                     she fell down in a puddle of fabric, her nightdress loose about her thin frame.

Icy eyes snapped up and a gasp sounded loudly in the cool night air. For once, pride fell away, shed as easily as any cape. The King –no, no Jareth rose from his seat upon the grass and ran to her. She was reaching for him, crying softly, but with a smile upon her face. All this time, all this time away and he still felt as he did all those years ago and he was drawn to her as his necessary other half.

He fell to his knees beside her, cradling her small form in his arms as though she were made of glass, like to shatter at any moment.

“Sarah, Sarah, no!” It was a broken whisper, brushing against her temple. He called her name, as though she’d know, as though she’d recognize, as though–

“I remember. I remember you, Jareth,” she cooed, a hand rising until he pressed his cheek to it, turning his head to kiss her palm. “I remember – _everything_.”

He wept then, knowing what must come next. Knowing ,as he had from the moment her memory had started to fail, how their story must end. “What –what do you remember? Tell me, Sarah. Tell me like one of the stories you love.” His voice trembled but he fought it. No, he had to be strong. She deserved it.

She laughed, a soft, fluttering sound. “I remember this, this place. The twisting walls, the orange sky, the castle. I remember an adventure, about a young girl who defied a King, who ran a labyrinth and won a child, –but lost her heart in the process. Or maybe she lost it after that. –I never did figure that part out.” She looked up at him with unseeing eyes, the green as beautiful as it had been so long ago.

He looked down at her and despite his efforts, a hoarse cry left his lips. Tears dripped from his cheeks and were smeared into her hair as he clutched her close. And then he kissed her, kissed her for every year they’d been apart, for every dream never realized, for every memory that she’d lost.

And he kissed her for him.

Because, long ago, a King had locked his heart away in a labyrinth,  
kept it in the center where no one could reach.  
And then a Champion came and conquered. She left with a little boy as her prize.  
But **what no one knew**  
**was** she’d left with far more than that.  
She’d taken **the King** ’s heart  
and he **had fallen in love with the girl**.

“Jareth? Will you –sing me to sleep? I’m so tired.”

“Sarah, please–!”

“Please…?”

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to choke back his grief. Gloves disappeared and he stroked her cheek tenderly, soft, sweet words crooned so delicately by her ear. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to let her go, to help her leave. But he sang anyway. The lyrics growing softer and more pained as her lids slowly closed.

“–And I’ll be there for you  
as the world falls down.”

A final breath  
–and she was gone.

Jareth buried his face in her neck, his shoulders shaking with sorrow. And as his cry of agony howled into the wind, the sky above split, the clouds parted. Dust swirled in the wind **_and the stars moved_**.

Sarah opened her eyes. And looked around in confused wonder.

“Is this –the Castle Beyond the Goblin City?”


	3. The Babe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected visitor arrives at the gates of the labyrinth. Jareth knows something about them is suspicious, but figures out the cause too late.

**Prompt/Insp** : AU where Jareth and Sarah had a kid and the kid seeks out Jareth to throw him in the bog. Original post can be found here: [X](https://leighthepeach.tumblr.com/post/172833654462/au-where-jareth-and-the-original-sarah-had-a-kid)

Want to suggest a prompt for Jareth x Sarah or peruse my other works? Click here: [X  
](https://leighthepeach.tumblr.com/)Kudos and comments are very appreciated!

* * *

 

Impossible. The word echoes in his mind, slamming in an endless cacophony against the confines of Jareth’s skull.

Few runners ever made it past the first corridor, always running ever onward, looking for corners that would never come. Fewer still made it through the initial twisting paths, turning themselves around with rarely a need for goblin intervention. A few bright, bold souls attempted to traverse the forest of bone and fiery woods. And only Sarah herself ever arrived at the castle in one piece.

Yet he watched this youth arrive at the gate unannounced. The entrance to the labyrinth appeared to them as if by its own choice, and they had knocked on the ancient doors before pushing them wide, as if wanting to let the King know they were coming.

Expertly, they ran down the first long trail and paused by a particularly large crack in the wall. He saw them bend down, dark hair covering their face. They set off again with a self-assured smile. They slipped through the hole in the outer wall and took off on a trail that would eventually lead to the goblin city. If left unchecked, at least.

Perturbed, the Goblin King rearranged their path, cutting off their direct route and sending them into the smaller mazes. Surely the bizarre instincts guiding this annoyance would fail there.

But no. Instead, they reached into the pocket of their jeans, pulled out a piece of chalk, and scribbled an arrow on one of the cobblestones. Only three steps and they paused, turning to look down the next two corridors. As they considered, a goblin shifted the marked stone. Lifting it and turning so that the arrow pointed in the opposite direction. Or would have, if quick hands hadn’t snatched the goblin from its hole.

The King was too late to hear what they said, but the runner tucked the goblin beneath their arm and demanded an answer at each twist and turn. The traitorous vermin pointed a trembling claw obediently, until they reached a point even it did not know. Leaving it to scurry away, the intruder continued on alone.

All this they had done in a matter of minutes. And now the word impossible resounds again as they solve every puzzle they reach, conquer every trial he conjures. False alarms shout and scream, and they mildly thank them for the performance. Fireys scurry away from them in fear when they tear off their heads and send them flying. And the goblins, the goblins! Those faithless wretches bow to their every whim.

When they step into the castle, he is there upon the throne. A foreboding figure draped in black, his eyes sharp with displeasure.

Most quell at the sight of the Goblin King, knowing he can distort dreams and reorder time itself. But their piercing blue eyes meet his glare for glare.

“I don’t believe anyone invited you in.”

“I did knock. No one answered. Seems neither of us have the best manners.”

The Goblin King’s lips tighten into a thin line. “You have gone to an awful lot of trouble to get here. Why?”

They smile. An uneven tilt of lips he has seen before. “There’s an old story I heard as a child. About a King who lived in a labyrinth. He made it, apparently, and designed it to be unsolvable. But, there was a rumor that if anyone could reach the center, the King would have to grant them a wish as a reward. I thought it was worth a shot.”

The Goblin King stands and crosses the room, heels clicking against stone. Only when he reaches them does he start to laugh. Shaking his head in a mockery of sympathy, he says, “You really shouldn’t believe everything you hear in stories.” He watches them expectantly. Waiting for their cocksure posture to crumble, their impertinent gaze to fall.

But no, their smile only grows.

“I don’t need a wish from you to get what I want. But like I said, it was worth a shot.”

“Oh? And what is it that you want to badly?” the Goblin King snaps.

“For you to go to the Bog of Eternal Stench.”

Jareth surely has a witty reply, but it is lost when the floor beneath his feet gives way. And then he falls, falls, through a swirl of glittering dust and lands in the putrid waters of the Bog.

And there on the banks is the trespasser. Their blue eyes laugh as they look down at his struggle. “You know, I really should tell you who told me that story.”

They walk to the very edge of the water, “But mom told me you figuring that out should be a piece of cake.”


	4. Terrible Liar

Want to suggest a prompt for Jareth x Sarah or peruse my other works? Click here: [X  
](https://leighthepeach.tumblr.com/)Kudos and comments are very appreciated!

* * *

 

She has always known him to be cruel. From the moment he snatched away her younger brother, it was there. The satisfaction in his eyes at her dismay, his malicious laughter as she was confronted with the supposedly insurmountable labyrinth.

But this she does not expect. And perhaps more fool her, for underestimating him.

Since her victory, Sarah's friends kept their word. She did need them for no reason at all save that she loved them. And each month, when the moon reached its peak, they visited. Movie nights when her parents were out, rousing games of scrabble and charades left her smiling the next day. Long, frantic talks til the early hours of morning eased the fears of her heart that crept steadily back in during their absences.

After the first year, they surprised her with a grander treat than she could have ever imagined. Returning to the labyrinth, its dusty roads and orange-lit sky. Its darkness and excitement and endless possibilities.

The reality that it did exist.

From then on, every third visit was hers to make, journeying back into the Underground, sighing with nostalgic relief every time her feet met the cobblestones.

Even as she grew older and years passed, Sarah never once neglected those meetings, never failed to make time for those so precious to her. Steadfast in her faithfulness lest she miss an opportunity to laugh with Hoggle, hear one of Didymus' grand tales and ostentatious shows of loyalty, receive one of Ludo's hugs that made her feel so safe, so loved.

But then, one night they did not come. Their next meeting was filled with tearful apologies, thin excuses that sounded wrong from their lips, like they were repeating someone else's words. And Hoggle's eyes tightened when she said so.

It grew more frequent. One month passed, then two and three. So many that Sarah feared she might never see them again. And with that fear came rage. Rage that made her speak the words, the goblins coming at her demand and whisking her Underground. With trembling claws and terrified red eyes, they scattered as soon as she found her feet outside the entrance to the labyrinth.

And now, with hands on hips and brows drawn low, she waits, knowing he will not ignore such impudence.

A swirl of shimmering dust and he appears. Draped in black from head to heel, the Goblin King looms like a shadow, his eyes narrow slits.

"Let me see them." Commanding and pleading, Sarah dares to speak first.

A mistake. A dark smile twists his lips and she knows the words are not the right ones. "Who?" Too innocent, mocking her.

"My friends, damn you! Hoggle and Sir Didymus and Ludo."

The muscles in his jaw tighten and his arms cross. Black leather creaks softly as his hands clench into fists. "Ah, yes.  _Poor_  Sarah, longing for companions who cannot see you."

No longer a fearful girl caught up easily in tricks, she spits, "Cannot is very different than will not. They want to see me! It's you! You're keeping them away, keeping me from them."

The Goblin King says nothing, continues that horrible smile. Confirming his guilt as if it doesn't matter.

"Why do you hate me so?" It is too much, knowing her friends want her as much as she does them. Knowing this King amuses himself with her pain. Her green eyes accuse him, shamelessly beg him.

And for a moment, his smile freezes, falters.

Then deliberately twists into a grimace. "I do not hate you," he snaps. Such venom laces his voice that it seems he wishes he could.

"You're a terrible liar!" Sarah meets him glare for glare, furious spots of red in her cheeks. "Why else would you keep them from me?"

"It has only been by my generosity that you have seen those retches at all!"

The words crack like a lash, cutting just as deep. And it is with horror that Sarah knows them to be true.

One moment he is feet away and the next he stands right above her, his piercing eyes bright with fury. "For years I have watched you consort with those miserable creatures. For years I have endured your laughter, your smiles, your wit given to fools. I have seen them console you and rile you, please you and irritate you. And every moment was a gift, only received by my will."

Lips parted, eyes wide, Sarah cannot find her words. The anger in her has died, replaced by bewilderment.

His gaze runs over her face, lingers too long. Much quieter now, he scoffs but with less malice, "Did you think Hoggle arrived in your room by his own power? That Didymus pulled you into the Underground by sheer force of will? So much you learned in this place, and yet  _so little_  you seem to remember."

_Nothing is as it seems._

_You take too much for granted._

A faint echo in her mind, pounding in her heart.

"But why?" she whispers. Why help her? Why allow meetings he despises? Why not tell her until now?

The Goblin King–Jareth holds her gaze, searches for some answer there. Finally, he murmurs, "As I said, I do not hate you."


	5. Heard

Want to suggest a prompt for Jareth x Sarah or peruse my other works? Click here: [X  
](https://leighthepeach.tumblr.com/)Kudos and comments are very appreciated!

* * *

 

Her dreams are potent, so vivid one could easily mistake them for reality. Detailed from the endless depths of her imagination, the unsettling reliability of her memory.

And what small nuances she forgets, Jareth all too easily supplies.

Not that she requires much help. Sarah reigns supreme, entirely confident, in control. It is her world, her dream, and she commands. A show he watches with fascination.

The burnt orange sky of the labyrinth bleeds into existence, winding walls rise from the ground. And he sees himself, a shadowed figure, more smoke and oil than skin and bone. He expects her to run from him, flee the corrupted shade.

But no. For when does Sarah ever do as he expects? It is the Goblin King that flees, walking through walls, stalking around corners. Always nearly out of sight as she tries to keep pace. 

And the deeper she wanders, the longer she pursues him, the more the leash she holds upon the dream loosens.  
  
“Why do you hide?” she calls, frustration lacing each syllable. “Are you afraid, Jareth?”

The shade pays her no heed, but continues deeper into the labyrinth. With each curve and turn, it grows darker. A menacing aura saturating her mind. It tastes bitter on his tongue. 

The darkness only seems to anger her, her mind flaring with rage. No longer trailing, Sarah takes off, heels pounding into the dust. And for a moment, she gains ground, close enough to nearly grasp the shadowed fringe of his cloak. 

Cobblestones shatter beneath her feet and she screams, stumbling to her knees. All around her, the world she conquered so long ago fades and fractures, scattering to nothingness. 

And Jareth realizes it was not rage before. No, that was a mask. The truth flickers in her wide green eyes as they dart frantically over the crumbling world, look with desperation toward the shade of him. 

Fear.

The dreamt Goblin King laughs now, cruel and hateful. “Too late,” he mocks. “You’re too late.” Even he is fading away, the last clear piece soon to be gone.

Her hand reaches toward him, not grasping for purchase, but asking. “Don’t leave me!”

 _“Oh Sarah, I never have.”_  A passionate reply in his soul, echoing again and again as a truth that won’t be denied.

And it’s only when her eyes shoot wide, glance right in his suddenly corporeal direction that Jareth realizes–.

 Now when the dream shatters, it is at his command. 

When he wakes, Jareth  _trembles_.


End file.
